The present invention is directed to a reader mechanism for reading cards having encoded data located thereon and more particularly, to a card reader for reading cards and identification badges having data represented by punched holes therein.
The use of plastic cards having encoded data thereon has expanded in recent years. Today such cards are used as part of banking transactions, credit purchases and security identification. In those situations where the card is inserted into a card reader by hand without supervision or assistance, it is essential that the card reader be constructed to provide an acceptable rate of successful read operations. Prior card readers have been constructed which include a slidable carriage assembly engaged by the inserted card. After insertion of the card, the carriage assembly under the control of a drive member such as a spring moves the card past a sensing member which senses the encoded data on the card as the card moves in a return direction towards the entrance of the card reader. Examples of this type of card reader construction may be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,114,028, 4,130,756 and 4,236,667 in which a punched card is moved past optical sensing members. Essential to the use of this type of card reader is the speed at which the card moves past the sensing members. If the speed of the card is too high or varies as the card moves in the return direction, invalid sensing operations occur which require re-insertion of the card in the card reader. To control the speed of the card, governors have been used in conjunction with the spring drive. Examples of this type of construction may be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,885,132 and 3,953,887. The use of governors in the prior art have resulted in complex mechanisms resulting in costly card readers.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a card reader for reading punched cards in which the card is driven past the sensing members at a constant speed. It is a further object of this invention to provide a card reader capable of reading cards having different configurations of punched holes in the card. It is another object of the invention to provide a card reader which is simple in construction and therefore low in cost.